NDP's Adrian Dix promises to boost film credits and business in B.C. if elected

British Columbia NDP leader Adrian Dix smiles while announcing that if elected an NDP government would expand tax credits for the film and television production industry, at Vancouver Film Studios in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday April 9, 2013. A provincial election will be held May 14 with the election campaign officially beginning April 16.

Photograph by: Darryl Dyck
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

New Democrat Party leader Adrian Dix took centre stage on a set at Vancouver Film Studios Tuesday to confidently announce his plan to bring the film and TV business back to British Columbia.

Dix told a cheering crowd of industry workers that his government — if elected this May — would increase film-labour tax credits by as much as seven per cent, to a total of 40 per cent, for foreign and domestic productions.

But Premier Christy Clark and her Liberal government said the promise of larger tax credits is simply a form of vote buying by the New Democrats with money that doesn’t exist.

Numbers from the NDP indicate the increase would cost taxpayers about $45 million annually, but provide $93 million in revenue in return.

“I think that we’re making a very strong case for change and this is part of it today,” said Dix.

He said few industries are as loved by people in the community as the film industry.

“Today we are announcing to the world that British Columbia is back in the film and television business.”

The important precondition to his announcement would be winning the election, and Dix said that would be up to voters.

Dix said he is feeling “very pleased, very confident, very relaxed” about the NDP’s current situation in B.C.

Liberal Cultural Development Minister Bill Bennett said the NDP has its numbers wrong and is making promises to film industry workers that can’t be kept.

“I’m positive that they have the cost wrong,” said Bennett, adding he has seen a ministry report that indicates a seven-per-cent tax credit increase would cost closer to $75 million.

“Doing it this way, it relieves (the NDP) of having to explain where the money is going to come from, and they can offer, you know, ‘let’s offer $45 million, $75 million, pick a number, to buy some votes in the TV and film industry.’ It’s not sustainable.”

Bennett said he is a very strong supporter of the film industry, but disagrees with Dix’s announcement because he thinks it is dishonest.

NDP arts and culture critic Spencer Chandra Herbert said that during a recent trip he and Dix took to Los Angeles, film industry officials expressed confusion about a lack of support from the B.C. Liberals.

“They actually were surprised that the Liberals seem to be mocking the film industry after former Premier Campbell’s work to try to grow (the industry),” said Chandra Herbert. “They didn’t get why Premier Clark decided it’s not an industry worth supporting.”

During his announcement, Dix quipped that the Liberal government is already in the TV business, spending millions on advertisements that attack the NDP.

Dix said he feels a tax credit increase would have an immediate, positive effect and allow B.C. to compete with industry in Ontario and Quebec, and that B.C.’s scenery and location give the province an advantage to draw film business.

Peter Leitch, chair of the Motion Picture Industry Association of B.C. and president of North Shore and Mammoth studios, welcomed Dix’s announcement as a “shot in the arm” for an industry that experienced one of its worst periods ever in the first quarter of 2013.

“We’re already getting positive feedback from Los Angeles that it looks like the politicians here are supporting what we’re trying to do,” Leitch said.

“With the talent we got here and the infrastructure and the other advantages, it’s going to allow us to create more jobs in the industry and stop the migration of talent out of the province.”

He said that Quebec and Ontario’s larger tax incentives make it about 10 per cent cheaper for companies to shoot there compared to B.C.

The B.C. Film Commission reported that a $115-million gain in domestic production in B.C. last year — to $324 million — offset an $88-million drop in foreign production — to $892 million. The B.C. total means the province remains the second-busiest film and television production centre in Canada — about $60 million behind the $1.28 billion spent in Ontario last year.

A recent Canadian Media Production Association report said B.C. lost 3,500 direct and spinoff film and television production jobs during the year ended March 31, 2012, with the total number falling from 39,500 to 36,000.

Meanwhile, Ontario’s industry gained nearly 8,000 jobs during the same period — rising from 43,400 to 51,300, the report said.

That province and Quebec both offer a 25-per-cent service tax credit for all expenses, including labour, racked up by the film industry. They also offer an additional 20-per-cent tax credit for any digital special effects and computer animation completed there.

Throw in the federal government’s additional 16-per-cent tax credit on any labour within Canada and those provinces become very attractive to film and television producers.

“That gap was just too big and this (announcement) brings us closer to what we need to be competitive,” Leitch said. “(Hollywood is) looking for an excuse to be in British Columbia.

“The only thing making them decide otherwise is that differential in tax credits.”

Dix’s proposal would boost the credit for local labour costs from 35 per cent on domestic productions and 33 per cent on foreign productions to 40 per cent on both kinds.

Vancouver Film Studio president Pete Mitchell said the planned tax-credit increases couldn’t come at a better time.

“With this announcement coming in early April, we can expect new film and TV productions to be approved in time to shoot for 2013,” Mitchell said in a news release.

Industry worker Wayne Bennett, an organizer of the Save B.C. Film group lobbying for more government help, said Dix’s announcement is definitely not “too little, too late” for an industry that can work in three-month trends.

“The business is very cyclical,” said Bennett, a freelance production manager for TV and film the past 13 years. “It’s so portable that the suitcases full of money are brought and come and go as the wind blows.”

Also on Tuesday, the City of Vancouver announced its intentions to do what it can to strengthen the local film and television industry.

City council unanimously agreed to look at removing some of the bureaucratic hurdles that can sometimes stall productions for months and make Vancouver less attractive to moviemakers.

To that end, the city will look at streamlining its parking, zoning and permitting processes — which could stop productions from having to go to different departments within the city for various permits.

Mayor Gregor Robertson also directed staff to compare Vancouver’s policing and parking costs with those of other municipalities in the Lower Mainland and around the country.

A staff report to council Tuesday reported the city reaped nearly $530,000 in parking fees from the industry in 2012. Policing charges the same year totalled $890,000, while permitting fees were $780,000.

But probably the biggest win for the industry Tuesday was a commitment from the city to better promote Vancouver as Canada’s “film city.”

Vancouver Film Studio’s Mitchell said Vancouver still ranks at the top of the list as a destination for international film and TV production companies.

“We have the best talent,” he said.

But the city can do much more to capitalize on that reputation, even just by mentioning the importance of the industry on the city’s website.

“The industry is not necessarily looking for a break on price, but for the city to say, ‘We are going to make this easy for you and take your money but make you feel good about it,” said Mitchell.

The TV and film industry has already been labelled a “priority” sector in the city’s economic action strategy.

More than 20,000 people — from hair and makeup artists to high-tech visual effects experts — are directly employed in the industry in B.C., most of them in Vancouver. The economic spinoffs of each production, meanwhile, is in the tens of millions of dollars.

Robertson said the industry gives more than just dollars to Vancouver.

“I think there is a deeper cultural piece beyond the benefits to the economy,” he said.

Council is expected to make a final decision on actions it can take when a final report by staff is complete.

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British Columbia NDP leader Adrian Dix smiles while announcing that if elected an NDP government would expand tax credits for the film and television production industry, at Vancouver Film Studios in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday April 9, 2013. A provincial election will be held May 14 with the election campaign officially beginning April 16.

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